FLICKER OF HOPE FOR THAILAND

A victory for either side would have put them in a strong position to claim one of the two qualifying spots from Group E but neither were able to make the crucial breakthrough in a game of few clear-cut chances.

With Singapore succumbing to a 3-1 home loss to group leaders Iran, the Thais are now on second in the group although they will have to avoid a defeat in their last group game against Iran for them to stand a chance of qualifying.

That too, provided that the Jordan-Singapore game end in a tie.

In Singapore, the home team fell to a Hadi Aghily penalty in the 11th minute, Mehrzad Malachi (12th minute) and substitute Gholamreza Rezaei (62nd minute).

Noh Alam Shah scored the only goal for the hosts in the 31st minute as Singapore languished on third at the table.

In the other matches which involved teams from ASEAN, Vietnam ended their hopes of qualifying from Group D with a 1-1 draw against Lebanon at the Saida Municipal Stadium.

Vietnam’s only goal of the game came off Pham Thanh Luong in the 40th minute after Ali Mahmoud had put the homesters ahead in the 19th minute.

“In the first-half, the players didn’t follow the instructions as we wanted while the performance improved in the second period but we couldn’t score from the chances that we had,” said Henrique Calisto, the head coach of Vietnam.

“We got back into the game in the second period but time was slipping away from us and we failed to score a winner.

“Lebanon’s performance was good but they had lost their motivation as they had no chance to qualify and they missed their fans as well. However, the performance was better than when we met in the first match.”

In Jakarta, Indonesia fell to a 2-1 loss to Oman at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium to end their hopes of making the next round.

Ismail Sulaiman scored the winner in the 52nd minute.

Oman carved the lead through Fouzi Basheer in the 31st minute only for Boas Salossa to give the home team a respite with the equaliser just before the break.

In the meantime, Malaysia ended their campaign in Group C with a 1-0 loss to the United Arab Emirates at the Al Shabab Stadium.

Ahmed Khalil struck the winner deep in injury time to confirm their place in the final rounds of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.